The present invention relates to the programming of telephones with auto-dial buttons.
Many telephones can be manually programmed with auto-dial buttons so that a telephone number can be automatically dialed. These auto-dial numbers can be emergency response numbers, or frequently dialed telephone numbers. Typically, the user can manually program these auto-dial numbers. In one case, to program an auto-dial number, the user presses the xe2x80x9cmemoryxe2x80x9d button, types in the desired phone number and then presses an auto-dial button to be associated with that number.
Hotels frequently use telephones with the auto-dial functions so that the front desk and other building services can be quickly accessed. With large hotels, this produces the problem that a relatively large number of phones need to be manually programmed. This can take a lot of time and can result in a relatively large number of human errors in the auto-dial programming. For this reason, mechanical auto-dial programmers have been produced. These mechanical programmers push the buttons in the telephone in the desired sequence to program the auto-dial buttons. These mechanical programmers are difficult to adjust for different phone shapes. The telephone key pad must be correctly oriented underneath the mechanical programmer for the mechanical programming to work correctly. Slight design changes or minor variations in phone manufacture can produce difficulty in alignment of the keypad with the mechanical auto-dial programmers. In addition, if the position of the buttons are changed for a new telephone design, a new mechanical programmer must be produced.
It is desired to have an improved method of programming telephones having the auto-dial function.
The present invention is an electronic programmer for use with telephones having an auto-dial function. Typically, telephone keyboards have row and column lines which are electrically connected when buttons are pressed on the telephone. A dialer chip in the telephone detects the electrical connection between the row and column lines. The present invention is an electronic programmer that interconnects row and column lines of the telephone to mimic the pressing of buttons of the telephone without requiring the buttons to be pressed.
In one embodiment, this is done by using an external electrical connector on the telephone keyboard that allows access to the row and column lines of the telephone keyboard. An electronic programmer is connected to this connector and selectively connects the row and column lines of the keyboard electronically together so as to mimic the pressing of buttons. This electrical programming is much more convenient than the mechanical programming and is not dependent upon the size, orientation or shape of the telephone.
In one embodiment, the present invention comprises an electronic programmer unit including a connector which is electrically connected to the row and column lines of the telephone keyboard. This connector is preferably a multi-pin connector which can be connected to a separate multi-pin external connector on the keyboard of the telephone. The multi-pin connector on the telephone keyboard is connected to the row and column lines. The electrical connector of the programming unit is connected to an interconnect unit which is adapted to selectively connect row and column lines received from the connector. The interconnect unit can comprise a number of pass transistors. A control unit is operatively connected to the interconnect unit. The control unit controls the selection of the electrical connections to mimic the pressing of the buttons on the telephone.
Another embodiment of the present invention concerns a method of programming a telephone. The method steps include connecting an electronic programmer to the telephone such that the row and column lines of the telephone keyboard are electrically accessable by the electronic programming unit. The next step involves electrically connecting row and column lines in order to mimic the pressing of a sequence of buttons on the telephone such that the telephone is programmed with an auto-dial number.
Another embodiment of the present invention concerns a telephone having a keyboard with a row and column lines. The row and column lines are connected to an external access connector that allows external electrical access to the row and column lines. The external access connector is separate from the internal connector which connects the keyboard to a dialer chip within the telephone. In one embodiment, the external access connector can be covered with a face plate or the like after the telephone is programmed with the auto-dial numbers.